I totally agree with the Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, who described the Egyptian illegal migrants who recently drowned as “greedy .
Did they not seek jobs where they can be paid in a coveted foreign currency, not our very own local currency?
I’m also surprised at the newspapers which attacked the Mufti for what he said, describing the victims as martyrs for risking their lives to make a living instead of living with the little they’ve got here.
The Mufti was absolutely right, despite the presence of hadiths by the Prophet Mohamed stating that those who drown are martyrs, and others stressing that those who die laboring are also martyrs.
But what’s wrong with the Egyptian pound anyway? Isn’t it like any other international currency? True that these youths didn’t see much of it, but never mind, at least it was in other peoples’ pockets. These young men are simply greedy. All they care about is for the pounds to end up in their own pockets, and this, of course, is no labor, but unparalleled greed.
Had these youths been satisfied with what they’ve got, they wouldn’t have arrogantly refused all the opportunities offered to them. For one, they could have continued depending on their families or lived like parasites in society instead of traveling abroad to get a job merely because there was no hope of getting one at home.
They also had a choice to turn into extremists and terrorists, seeking revenge on a society that has deprived them of a natural right stipulate by the International Declaration of Human Rights, the right to work.
They could have also resorted to theft and other illicit, but rewarding ways of making money. And last but not least, they could have turned to drugs to escape unemployment and hanging around all day at home or at the café like an old maid nobody wants to marry.
All these choices were available in Egypt. Indeed many other young men have tried one or the other of them instead of risking their lives just to make a living the way these greedy youths did.
In that I fully support our Mufti, the religious conscience of the umma, who condemned them and refused to call them martyrs.
Martyrdom is the reward of jihad alone, while their only jihad has been their selfish desire to support their families which, of course, doesn’t count because it is compensated in euros not in Egyptian pounds, the national currency.
Furthermore, I don’t absolve any of these young men of sinister intentions to drown themselves to embarrass the cabinet of the National Democratic Party. In its recent conference, the party highlighted unprecedented progress in our economic reform policies that have been hailed by international experts; policies that have led these perverts to risk their lives in order to find jobs abroad.
These young men obviously couldn’t care less about all that. All they seek is to make a living. This is surely the pinnacle of selfishness and unparalleled greed, as found out by our much-esteemed Grand Mufti.
Mohamed Salmawy is President of the Writer’s Union of Egypt and editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram Hebdo. This article is syndicated in the Arabic press.
